Orbit

I prefer to keep my feet firmly placed on the ground. Even
as a child, I refused to stand on anything high and roller coasters
were out of the question. A family trip to Disney World in
the fifth grade consisted of much time sitting on park benches in
protest while everyone else enjoyed the rides. I've never had
an interest in rock climbing and believe that every time I ride in
a plane there is a 50/50 chance the plane crashes to the
ground. And I never had an interest in space
exploration. I have quite a nice time on earth and have no
curiosity for the stars and planets. That is until this past
weekend.

My husband planned a surprise late Valentine's celebration to go
to the Houston Symphony and attend the opening weekend of their new
concert, "Orbit." I was told that it was images of space set
to symphony music, and while I love the symphony, the photos of
space seemed less interesting.

When we arrived at the theatre, there were mock set ups of space
ships and a real space suit. Even some docents were dressed
as astronauts to set the feel of the evening. Slightly
gimmicky, I thought, space just can't be that cool. There's a
lot of blackness, lots of stars and some other spheres,
right? The first half of the concert was regular symphony
instrumentals and prior to the start they introduced two astronauts
who were in space in 2011. I guess that seemed kind of neat,
seeing as how few astronauts exist and now the number of astronauts
I have seen in real life totals two.

The second half began with "Orbit." The first image
appeared and I was blown away. I had no earthly idea (excuse
the pun) that there was so much beauty beyond what can be seen from
the ground. Swirling clouds sped past entire continents and
sparkles darted throughout, signaling electric storms.
Amazing colors of red, yellow and blue swirled over other
planets. As more images spanned the screen I noticed a
strange familiarity to them. It struck me, these images look
like images I have seen on the microscope. Some resembled
vibrant bone marrow aspirates and the more brightly lit ones looked
like immunofluorescent stained images of brain tissue. I was
blown away by how the smallest visions of life reflect the vastness
of the universe. Often the disciplines of science and
veterinary medicine appear to be full of facts or the unsightly
look of a damaged and diseased animal, but what many don't realize
is that our profession is also full of so much beauty. I now
have a deeper appreciation for the unexpected splendor in
veterinary medicine. Maybe space isn't so boring after all
either.